Anyone know how to catch snook?
 

I'm headed down to Boca Raton this weekend. My friend has a great set up right on the intercoastal. I noticed the last time I was there that a bunch of snook sit right under his dock. He says that to catch them you have to fish at night (like stripers) but that he still has never caught one?

So does any one have suggestions. I have a fly rod and flies I can also spin fish. I know where they are but they are quite fincy and I want to get one of those bastards:splat:

When I was down in the area I watched a sailfish charter cap catch em at the dock with leftover live bait...
so I'd say fish live pinfish or something...

Live pinfish or live shrimp at night. Use a really long flourocarbon leader and a 4/0 or 5/0. Flip the live bait about 2-3 feet into the dark water outside the light/dark line The snook in the intercoastal are pretty wise. Every once in a whle you can fool them with an artificial, but they are tough. They act way differently than the snook way up the river and in the back country.

What Bronko said

Ya thats pretty much what I heard. He says you can't even fish right off the dock you have to go out to the darker water. I need to borrow the dingy. One more thing are the snook any good as table fair?

Snook are a lot like stripers as far as fishing for them. Fishing an incoming tide seems to be good and if that coincides with Sunrise or Sunset all the better. I have caught quite a few on my trips to Florida and have got them on a number of different lures and flies. I have had good success with three inch Calcutta shad baits similar to the storms. I have used the olive chartruese and pearl depending on location water clarity (chartruese worked in choppy beach front waters). I have seen them early mornings cruising along the beach literally at the waters edge and if its clear and calm they don't hit too often but when its choppy and the waters silted up a bit they tend to hit a little more agressively. The other lure I have had good luck with are some of the locally sold jigs (1/4 to 3/8 oz) but I cannot think of the name off hand but they come in a lot of different colors. I have had good luck with the root beer color in the estuaries. For flies the standard charturese clouser should get the job done but a white deceiver would be another good bet. Check out the online forum for Florida Sportsman they have a fly section and other forums based on regions.

Good luck...

Oh yea DOA rubber shrimps are very popular down there and worth a shot also.

Snook in Boca Raton area
 

Snook under the lights are definitely shy and you can even expect a few baby tarpon to show up at times. there are a number of flies that have worked well for me when I lived in South Florida for six years -- the small anchovie fly patterns made out of silicone worked extremely well, as do clousers and white or flash flies -- there are a number of patterns modeled after the brooks blonde tied with a flash wing. As for the DOA lures, yes the select size shrimp works great and it's worth trying the DOA CAL jigs. Live bait is always a good bet around the lights and adjacent seawalls. Don't ignore the inlets at night, if you have time swing over to the inlet and have a look, you are likely to see guys fishing there. Boca is close to a lot of other areas, so if you have time it's worth exploring, and don't forget to check out the local tackle shops. Not sure who is in Boca these days, but there are plenty in Ft. Lauderdale which is close by Boca.

Yes they are good eating, but you MUST skin them, if you don't they'll taste like soap. Also be aware that there are slot limits on them, too big or too small and they have to go back in the water.

:drool: They love shrimp almost as much as I do.

just a heads up , in florida you need a salt water fishing license

Thanks for the info guys. If my efforts are futile it wont be from lack of information. I'll worry about the taste of snook if I catch one. I also looked into a very reasonable priced 3 day fishing licence.

Shrimp and pinfish are the best. We used to kill them on an old red and white plug by Pflueger. Night is the best but did get some during the day. Early mornings and evenings.

I heard shrimp shrimp shrimp and the DOA lures.

Ditto on the shrimp and the DOA. Make sure you get the snook stamp on your license. And check to make sure they are in season.